the long haul

Al's birthday was Thursday, and he came up to see me for the weekend. When he arrived, I had presents and a home-made cake waiting for him. We went to the Irish Pub for dinner and then came back and he opened his presents. I had him open the biggest to the smallest packages, in that order. First was a hooded sweatshirt for my university (he had asked for that). Next came a video that I thought he'd like. Finally was the gift I was most excited about: a card telling him that he needs to call Anderson Music a mile from our home to arrange for a time to take ten guitar lessons. Al spends hours in front of his computer on YouTube trying to teach himself guitar, and I thought he'd like to at least get the basics from someone else. I got the reaction I wanted: he was very happy, and several times throughout the weekend saw him smiling. Each time, he said he was thinking about his present. Yay! I did good.

We had a nice, relaxing weekend that ended quite differently--for Al, at least. He left here at 8:30 am yesterday and didn't get home until 13 hours later. It's usually a 9 or 10-hour drive. He called me around noon and said he had broken down. Of course, it being Sunday, only one repair shop was open and they didn't have the part they needed to fix it. Fortunately, however, they knew the owner of another shop in town and called him up even though they knew his shop was closed. He had the part and was willing to pick it up and bring it to them at no extra charge. Al was on his way again by 1:30 and happy to think that he still might make hockey. Wrong.

Once he crossed the state line for home, he hit a white out that lasted for miles and miles. Going 15 miles an hour doesn't get you very far when you've got about 200 miles to go. It took him several more hours to get home, and he went right to the ice rink. He was too late to play, but early enough to finish watching his team play and cheer them on. I would have just skipped it and gone to bed, but not my husband! Oh well.

So that was my exciting weekend. I'm sure it's been a pleasure to read, too (I'm just too tired and stressed to worry about making it count for good writing). Have a nice week!